Porcelain

232

These ‘Darby figars’ may possibly have been of earthenware. There are some richly painted statuettes of this material at South Kensington, though these indeed seem to be of a somewhat later date.

233

Mr. Bemrose, in his work on Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain, gives photographic reproductions of several pages from Duesbury’s work-book.

234

These details I take from the notes of a man who had formerly practical experience of such work—Mr. Haslem, in his Old Derby China Factory.

235

And yet the colours are sometimes brilliant and effective—for example, on a large dish or tray of Spode ware at South Kensington (see below, p. 373). This strange ‘breaking-down’ of the old Japanese patterns may be compared to the scattered fragments of the original Greek design that we see on the pre-Roman coins of Gaul and Britain.

236

It appears from a correspondence that has been preserved that in 1791 the second Duesbury was looking out for royal support. ‘A gentleman about the court’ whom he consulted recommended him to seek the patronage of the Duke of Clarence, for, said he, ‘the duke is the only prince that pays the tradespeople.’ At that time there was great jealousy of the Worcester works, where the king had lately made large purchases.

237

Why Tonquin, of all places? We should rather have expected to find Nankin or Canton, as at Bow.

238

See the engraving in the Gentleman’s Magazine for August 1752. This was in the nature of a puff. In the corner we read ‘A sale of the Manufacture will begin at the Worcester Music Meeting on September 20th, with great variety of ware and, ’tis said, at a moderate price.’ Edward Cave, the originator of the Gentleman’s Magazine, and ‘the father of parliamentary reporting,’ was an important shareholder of the Worcester works.

239

Steatite is essentially a silicate of magnesia. We have seen that a soapy rock, probably of this nature, entered at times into the composition of the porcelain made at King-te-chen. At a later time silicate of magnesia, in various forms, has found its way into the hybrid pastes of Italy and Spain.

240

These two buildings may be probably traced back to the Temple of Vespasian, in the Forum, and to the Pyramid of Cestius respectively. Hancock must have got his materials from French and Italian engravings after Claude and Pannini.

241

Dr. Johnson was for a long time a close neighbour—his well-known interest in the manufacture of porcelain must have brought him into contact with the Baxter family. We find a Baxter mentioned in Bowcocke’s notes as early as 1751. See Chaffers, p. 896.

242

The teapot in the Schreiber collection with the mark ‘Allen, Lowestoft,’ must be regarded as a supercherie. The painting on it of a crucifixion is evidently by a Chinese hand. This teapot has, however, been connected with an Allen of Lowestoft, a porcelain enameller and amateur glass-stainer.

243

Some recent discoveries of moulds make it, however, probable that the early wares of Worcester and Bow were imitated at Lowestoft.

244

We are told that the first three of these substances are to be fritted together, but this would be manifestly impossible. The recipe is curious as being an anticipation of the materials used by Spode thirty years later. But we must receive most of these recipes that have thus come down to us cum grano.

245

This ‘soapy rock’ was at once identified with the steatite of the Lizard. The other porcelain experts, from Worcester and from Liverpool, who visited Cornwall about this time, seem to have devoted their attention more especially to this substance. They were thus, to some extent, on a false scent, for the Père D’Entrecolles probably somewhat exaggerated the importance of this Wha-she, and, moreover, as has been shown by later French investigation, most of the material of soapy consistency employed at King-te-chen is no true steatite or magnesian silicate, but rather a more fusible variety of the petuntse, containing much mica.

246

Was Frye, the painter of Bow, who first made use of the American earth, also a quaker? Cookworthy and Champion, it appears, first became acquainted with one another through the medium of one of the Bristol Frys, and it is known that moulds and patterns from Bow were used at Plymouth. It is at least remarkable that we should be indebted for our knowledge of the constitution of Chinese porcelain, in the first place, to a Jesuit father, and then to a member of the Society of Friends; while, on the other hand, Böttger—like Cookworthy, a druggist—was an adept in the dark arts.

247

Besides the factory mentioned in this letter, we hear from the diary of Dr. Pococke that as early as 1750 a white ware with reliefs was made at the ‘Lowris China house’ with ‘soapy-rock from Lizard Point.’ A sauce-boat marked ‘Bristoll’ is referred to these works in the Guide to English Pottery in the British Museum, p. 109.

248

Lauraguais (Comte de), Duc de Brancas, born 1733; died 1824.

249

See p. 306. At Strawberry Hill was ‘Michael Angelo’s Bacchus, made in the china of the Comte de Lauraguais, from the collection of the Comte de Caylus’ (Walpole’s Works, ii. 405 seq.).

250

By Champion, at least, at a later time. The cross swords have in some cases been subsequently obliterated (Pl. e. 84). Mr. Owen thinks that this was in consequence of a quarrel with the custom-house authorities in 1775.

251

And for tin also. The mark was adopted, no doubt, in honour of the ‘premier’ product of Cornwall. It would, however, be more in place on a ware with an opaque tin glaze, such as the soft paste of Chantilly.

252

So at Sèvres during the greater part of the last century the glaze has consisted of pegmatite, a very similar material to the Cornish growan-stone. The inconveniences of such a glaze have been pointed out by Vogt and others.

253

Of another workman employed by Champion, one Anthony Amatt, Mr. Hugh Owen gives some particulars. At one time, attempting to cross the Channel and find employment in France, he was arrested—at the instigation, it is said, of Wedgwood—and confined for some time as a State prisoner. Amatt died in 1851 at the age of ninety-two. Wedgwood was very active in preventing the emigration of English potters, who, he declared, were lured from their country by French and German agents (Meteyard’s Wedgwood, ii. p. 475).

254

There are also in existence some examples of undoubted Bristol hard-paste porcelain, covered with a soft lead glaze.

255

The porcelain made by Count Lauraguais, to judge by the analysis given above, must have contained even more kaolin than the Bristol ware.